World Premiere
Soprano Arianna Zukerman, mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, and pianist Jason Wirth come together on May 6, 2026 at Guarneri Hall for an evening of Jewish American composers including Leonard Bernstein, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Laura Kaminsky, closing with the world premiere of a new NLM commission by David Hanlon.
Publish Date:
March 23, 2026
L'dor v'dor. From generation to generation. It is one of the most foundational phrases in Jewish tradition - the idea that what we inherit, we pass forward. On May 6, 2026, Nova Linea Musica brings that idea into a concert hall, with a program built entirely around the legacy and evolution of Jewish American composers, anchored by a world premiere.
Soprano Arianna Zukerman, mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson, and pianist Jason Wirth come together at Guarneri Hall for an evening of vocal works spanning composers Leonard Bernstein, Laura Kaminsky, Ricky Ian Gordon, Laura Karpman, David Leisner, and Alex Weiser. The concert concludes with the world premiere of a new NLM-commissioned work by composer David Hanlon.
Arianna Zukrman
Soprano Arianna Zukerman was born into music. Her father is violinist, violist, and conductor Pinchas Zukerman; her mother is flutist, writer, and arts broadcaster Eugenia Zukerman. Arianna Zukerman She has built a career entirely her own. Renowned for her pure, luminous, rich soprano, persuasive performances, and dramatic ability, Zukerman is considered one of the premier vocal artists of her generation. National Arts Centre Her connection to Jewish musical tradition runs deep: she is the soloist on the GRAMMY-nominated 2013 Naxos recording of James Whitbourn's oratorio Annelies, the first major choral setting of the Diary of Anne Frank. Arianna Zukerman As a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, the work carries particular personal weight. She has performed it at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., and on stages across the country and abroad.
Heather Johnson
Mezzo-soprano Heather Johnson is hailed by Opera News as "a dramatic singer in the truest sense." MCNY She has sung with companies including the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and the Volkstheater in Rostock, Germany, in roles including the title roles in Bizet's Carmen, Rossini's Cenerentola and Tancredi, and Purcell's Dido and Aeneas. Altnyc A devoted champion of new American opera, she has created leading roles in multiple world premieres. Her connection to Jewish musical repertoire is notable: among her credits is the mezzo soloist in Thomas Beveridge's Yizkor Requiem - a work of memorial and remembrance - at Carnegie Hall.
David Hanlon and the World Premiere
The evening closes with a world premiere. Composer David Hanlon, praised by Maestro Patrick Summers as "one of the major compositional voices of the young generation," Azopera has been commissioned by Nova Linea Musica to create a new work for this program. Hanlon is a composer whose range spans chamber opera, song cycle, and orchestral music, with premieres at Houston Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Kennedy Center, and Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is a former Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera and an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio.
The new NLM commission draws its inspiration from Psalm 39:12-13, a text of extraordinary weight and beauty: "Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; hold not your peace at my tears. For I am a sojourner with you, a guest, like all my fathers. Look away from me, that I may smile again, before I depart and am no more."
It is a psalm about impermanence - about being a stranger passing through, about the need to be heard before time runs out. In the context of a program about Jewish American composers and the tradition of passing music forward from generation to generation, the text resonates on every level. The world premiere on May 6 will be the first time this music is ever heard.
The Program
L'dor v'dor features works by Leonard Bernstein, Laura Kaminsky, Ricky Ian Gordon, Laura Karpman, David Leisner, and Alex Weiser, alongside the world premiere of David Hanlon's NLM commission. The pre-concert discussion begins at 5:45pm. The concert begins at 6:30pm.
Tickets are $40 and include the pre-concert discussion, the concert, and a chef-curated reception. Tickets at guarnerihall.org.
